San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1887-11-09

imam 10, ne interrupted. Anyhow, II s
no business Of mine"
did not tell him that had reason to
doubt whether poor Lady Mildred would
be happy with Beauchamp. My mother still
maintained that the girls heart had been
given past recalling to jim; but it would
have been pity TO hint at such a state Of
things; because he was evidently little
smitten with her, and it was quite certain
that she could not now accept him, whether
he wore a beard or not. So | agreed with
him that these projected marriages in high
life did not concern humble individuals
like ourselves, and suggested, by way of
changing the subject, that we should drive
up TO Lords to see the Elton and Harrow
match, as we had previously arranged
to do.
Jim and threaded our way, grumbling,
through the deep fringe of spectators,
whose persons and vehicles effectually
prevented US from catching glimpse Of
the game, and, having been provided with
tickets by a member, were about to turn
these to account when we were arrested
by hearing cur names called out in high,
clear voice which was familiar to both Of
US. From the open carriage in which she
was sitting, surrounded, as usual, by
fashionable youths, Lady Bracknell beck
oned us to approach, and we could not do
otherwise than obey her orders Her lady
ship was clad in Eton blue from The crown
Of her head to the sole of her foot, and very
becoming the color was to her. She at
tackled Jim at once.
"COme and talk to me-" she said; II
have thousand things to ask you. You
don't want to look at that stupid cricket,
do your
Jim, with a self assertion for which l
should not have given him credit, replied,
"Well, | came here for that purpose.
But probably the reluctance of the fly acts
as an agreeable stimulus upon the spider.
'YOu shall go and look at it presently"
Hilda said, and signed to him to get in
the carriage beside her.
So / left them together and strOlled on,
feeling truly sorry for poor Jim, because
am sure that it must be most unpleasant
thing to be obliged to talk to woman
with whom you have once been madly in
love and whom you love no longer.
had not proceeded very far before I
came upon the Staines party-old Lord
Staines lying back in his carriage, propped
up by cushions which kept slipping down
and demanded careful watching on the
ming standing upon his grandfather's
knee to get better view of the game; and
Alfred Beauchamp, leaning over the car
rage door and blowing cigarette smoke
into his cousins face.
stopped to speak to them. and Lord
Staines said, $50 your friend Leigh is
back again at last, is he?-back ut last,
eh' Stupid fellow! if he had stayed at
homo "a int
ment sooner and thanked Heaven for it.
see more than that young wor~ an fancies
more than she fancies by a long
way"
The old gentleman has contracted dis
Quieting habit Of thinking aloud. He
went on muttering to himself now, and ]
dare say that if his remarks had been
audible, they would have been found to
be uncOmplimentary to his daughter-in-
law, whom he detested; but who, never
theless, had reduced him to a state of toll
erably complete subsection. Lady Mildred
looked little nervous, I thought, and
went on talking very fast to Beauchamp,
a fair compleXioned young man, whose
conversational powers were not brilliant,
yet who was by no means such fool as
Jim had hastily assumed him to be. 1t
to bear upon the thought that it might be
a good thing if he were to marry his
cousin and that he was succeeding very
fairly well.
However, his attentions, if such they
were, were soon interrupted. Little Sun
ming, who was rather a friend of mine,
had clambered from his grandfather's
knee on to my shoulder and had just dealt
a resounding blow upon the top of my
hat, by way of applause to retiring bats
man, when vision of sky blue fitted be-
fore my eyes, and high pitched voice q
forget whether | have mentioned that
Hilda's voice had a metallic ring which
no efforts on her part awaited to SOFTEN
said: You are a nice sort of a person to
make appointments with, Mr.. Beau
champ May ask whether you remem-
Der begging me to bring you here to-day
And are you aware that kept the car
rage waiting for you three-quarters of
an hour"
And then heard Beauchamp murmur-
ing excuses from the background. "By
Jove! Lady Bracknell, I'm so awfully
sorry. What an idiot ami Can't think
how I came to forget it!''
There was an indistinct rejoinder, fol-
lowed by gradual dying away of both
voices, from which concluded that her
ladyship had taken the young man by the
ear and led him off. Having persuaded
Summing that he would be more comfort
able, and that l should be cooler, if he got
up on to the box, and having thus re-
gained the power of turning my head
round, perceived that Jim had taken
Beauchamp's place and was conversing
with Lady Mildred, whose eyes had grown
perceptibly brighter during the last few
minutes. She certainly looked very pretty
in her white dress, and | could not wonder
at the satisfaction which Jim obviously
derived from gazing at her; but it was
unlucky, to say the least of it, that he
should have taken such a long time to
discover her beauty. Six years before,
when Alfred Beauchamp had had father
and an elder brother living there might
have been some hope for him; but his
chance was now represented by a zero of
a type so clear that one could only hope he
might be enough Of a reasonable being to
see it. Resemblance, however, was not
his distinguishing Characteristic.
Presently Braclnell made his way to
the carriage and mounted the box beside
his son. He took no notice of us, but
holsted the boy upon his knee, and the
two became absorbed in contemplation of
the game, the elder making occasional ex-
plantations TO the younger which were
listened to with interest and respect. |
suppose paternal fOndness must have been
hereditary in the Henley family, for
Bracknell was not one whit less foOlishly
devoted to his boy than his father had
been to him in days of yore, and, to all
appearance, was bent upon reproducing a
system of treatment which had not been
conspicuously successful in his own case.
The child had Rrncknell's dark hair and